Living with Survival: Part Three
by Brandon-Illiam-Lee
Summary: The concluding part of the story of The Meyers family. Britain is gone, but from its ashes rises new potential and danger. Salvation is here.
1. Chapter 1: 28 Days Later

Living with Survival: Part Three

Chapter one: 28 Days Later

Tim looked out over the sorry streets. One of many towns he had passed through in the recent weeks. A few skeletons wrapped in rotten fabric lay here and there. An over turned ambulance outside a school with its doors broken through. Whispers of something that happened here, it happened less than a year ago. It may as well have happened a century ago. Nothing left now but remnants of a past they weren't getting back. Tim thought of things that had passed, as he often did. He had company in Ellsy and Wolvo. Yet they weren't his family, not his real family. His family were gone. Like every town in Britain, now perhaps the world, slowly the infection took them, the infection and the carnage that it wrought.

Tim thought first of his mother. No doubt beaten to a bloody pulp. His father, blind and lost amongst the tidal wave of death that engulfed London just a short time ago. His brother Mike had died in a car crash escaping the infected. His other brother Jon was shot and killed during the last outbreak that had led to the destruction of all of Europe and no doubt beyond. The Meyers family were almost gone. Just like these towns. Ruins of something that was once bustling and happy, with the promise of a future that never came, just bloody handprints on the odd car door.

It had been 28 days since the Isle of Dogs massacre. The three survivors moved north. It wasn't difficult. Most of the infected had died in the cities fire bombing. The remainder were scattered and directionless. The towns and Burroughs that they weaved through were silent as the grave. They had scavenged from houses, supermarkets and military outposts. It had taken them these four weeks to reach Birmingham. Around a half hours drive from Wolvos home town of Wolverhampton. Of course driving was off the table. The roads throughout most of the country was clogged with cars and choked with debris. You couldn't drive 20 minutes without having to make a significant push forward on foot. The United Kingdom or whatever the hell that meant any more had returned to a bygone era. Where travel by foot was the only real option.

Birmingham was just like the rest of the country, a corpse, once alive and now returning to dust. They had pitched up in an old cinema. Directly in the town centre, outside you could see the businesses that populated it. A pram stood almost still in the street, its wheels gently moving forward with every breeze. Blotches of dark gore stained the ground around it. They had lain out their provisions on a small foyer table. Wolvos job was always to focus on water, food and weapons. Ellsy collected batteries, survival books and articles. Tim was a sort of leader. Driving forward the next plan or stage of their journey. A journey he began to realise had no destination.

Tim looked down at the map. A British A to Z map that had their journey marked in black marker. Snaking up from London, into the Midlands, with no end in sight, it was becoming abundantly clear, morale was low and some kind of goal had to be formulated soon. Tim's job was to find this goal.


	2. Chapter 2: City of Wolves

Chapter 2: City of Wolves

Wolverhampton – 2 miles. The trek up the motorway was relatively uneventful. Car after car after car. All similar in their stories, all packed with clothes and supplies and shite no one needed. Bodies long since rotten. Policemen, soldiers, green shirts, blue blouses, red blazers, black coats. Women, men, children, babies. All of them stuck in the same grid lock, going towards the next damn grid lock. Madness piled into madness. Wolvo seemed more apprehensive than ever. He had been calm and collected during their time in London. But the closer they moved towards his home town, he must have sensed the answers to the questions were close. Dark answers, family and friends. What had happened to them all? No one wanted to say. They were dead of course. Like everyone else.

"We'll come into the city via Fordhouses, we'll move into Pendeford and then onto Claregate. My Mom and Dad live around there." Wolvo held his sledgehammer firmly in his hands. It seemed he had more to say, but said nothing. Tim glanced a knowing look at his friend. What did he expect to find at his home? Except for bones. Ellsy couldn't bare the question hanging in the air any longer. "How long will it take to get there?" Wolvo began flipping his hammer over and over with the slightest flick of his wrist, "A few hours". Nothing more was said as the three entered the city.

Wolvo had grown more and more silent since Jon was killed. Choosier with his words and less happy go lucky. The journey north only deepened his gloominess. He had lost his girlfriend when the infection began, but never knew the fate of his family back home. Maybe he felt a sense of hope in not knowing. Tim and Ellsy had lost everyone, so they pushed to find out what had happened to Wolvos. He agreed a few weeks ago, yet it didn't seem to help anyone.

Ellsy seemed to go from strength to strength. She knew the two needed her as much as she needed them. Tim seemed lost in thought most of the time and Wolvo was only growing more withdrawn. She had grown so close to Tim, yet there was still a distance there. She couldn't bare losing anyone else and in this world they lived, that could happen at any moment. She would do everything she could to hold them together.

Wolverhampton was the same as everywhere else. It had all the same qualities as London, Northampton, Milton Keynes and Birmingham, the stale smell of loss. Wolvo seemed more aware. Tim noticed small looks and stares at certain buildings. Someone he knew or a place he had spent a lot of time perhaps. Yet he still said nothing. Barking could be heard in the distance. The three hadn't seen many animals on their travels. The odd cat missing an eye or a horse in a distant field, yet dogs seemed to hide from any kind of noise or human activity, who could blame them. Think how many countless pets that had had been beaten to death by the infected. How many zoos that must have been ransacked, Tim hoped that a lion somewhere had managed to take down a few infected with him.

Wolvo turned to the two after a while, "We're nearly here". Tim saw something out of his peripheral vision. It was definite movement. He looked sharply behind him and swore he saw a dog, a brief second and it had disappeared into a side street. Tim stood still for a moment, looking at the emptiness of the street. "You okay?" Ellsy looked concerned. "A dog" Tim whispered. "So?" Wolvo had already begun walking on. "Ellsy walked back and gently took Tim by the arm, "there's nothing out there". Tim stood ever watchful, but relented and they continued on.

Ash was in the air, the smell of burning permeated throughout the area. There had been a great fire here. Rows of attached and detached houses were in various stages of having burnt down. Wolvo quickened his pace; the other two knew already what this meant. Wolvo turned onto a street, you could hardly tell where one house would have ended and the next began, just ash and burnt out cars. Wolvo stopped suddenly, staring at a blackened piece of earth. A few walls remained stained with soot, a stone wall at the front of the house but not much else. Wolvo walked slowly into the ruins. Ellsy and Tim stood outside, almost afraid at how Wolvo would react to seeing his life burnt down to a wall or two.

Two dogs barking, closer this time. Tim stared around the landscape. Desperately looking for movement, he managed to catch something. An animal darting between two ruined houses. Tim calmly backed up toward Ellsy. "We're being stalked", she smiled at first and looked at him, the smile fell away when she knew Tim was being serious. "There is no infected left Tim and the Infected don't track people anyway". Tim stared into her eyes, "Animals do, dogs can carry the virus but can't be infected, but they can be feral". Ellsy looked to Wolvo, "you're going to hurry him up? Now? His whole fucking world just burnt down." Tim walked past her and into the ruins; Wolvo was on his knees amongst the debris.

As Tim approached Wolvo smiled. "I used to have my dinner there, Mom would set the table and Dad would cook, he loved cooking. Mom was the handy man around the house. They made this place a home." Tim looked impatient, but a little upset with himself for having to hurry Wolvo on. "Wolvo, we have to leave mate. There are dogs that are following us." Wolvo pointed at another corner of the room. "That's where I learned how to write. My Dad would sit me down and explain in the calmest way, never got cross with me Tim. Not once. My Mom had the temper, but she was just so caring to." Ellsy barged into the ruin. "Tim there's more than one out there". Wolvo was jerked out of his daze. He brandished his hammer as if ready to fight there and then. "We have to get inside somewhere. Open ground doesn't favour us here". Wolvo gestured towards a large factory that stood close by. They began to run, leaving the residue of Wolvos past behind.

They were almost at the front door of the factory when it happened. A piercing snarl and the scratching of paws on pavement, Wolvo turned just quick enough to slam his hammer into the jaw of a leaping Rottweiler, its lifeless body sprawling against a brick wall, leaving only a bloody splatter against the red brick. Three more dogs came pelting out of the surrounding area, Ellsy scrambled for her gun firing off several shots, she managed to hit a black Labrador in its rib cage, but she was no marksman. The other two dogs were closing in on Wolvo. Tim scrambled to open the large doors, bound together by a heavy rusted chain. He forced a small gap, just enough for them to fit through. "Ellsy come on". Wolvo stood ready as the dogs approached; they were rabid, fur over grown and covered in a black dried substance.

Ellsy tried to fit through the gap, but was caught by her back pack. She tore it off and slid through the gap into the factory. Tim called to Wolvo as the dogs reached him. Wolvo managed to catch another one of them in the head, his hammer splashing brain all over the pavement. The last dog found its mark, biting Wolvo on the right arm. The two fumbled for just a few seconds. Wolvo managed to yank the dog away from its eye socket, the dog yelping in pain. He pinned it to the ground and like a wild ape he smashed his fist into its skull. It was all over with a dozen crazed strikes. Tim looked on in horror. "Wolvo?" Tim took a step towards him. A snarl, Tim took a step back. Wolvos head jerked back, eyes red as hell. The two shared a stare, a short moment of understanding and horror. The infection had taken him; he jolted to his feet and began sprinting towards his friend. Tim squeezed between the doors with seconds to spare. The doors were pounded against, shaking with every thump. Tim grabbed Ellsys hand and they ran into the dark, cold factory.


	3. Chapter 3: Into the Factory

Chapter 3: Into the Factory

Tim heard the chains strain and clang against the doors. Wolvos growls could be heard at various volumes as the gap in the door swung open and shut. They turned a corner and caught their breath for a moment. Tim looked around the metal railings they were leaning up against to get a look at the front doors. They were holding, for now at least. "Do you have a weapon?" Ellsy whispered. "I only have two bullets left". Tim swung his head around. "Where's the rest of the ammo?" Ellsy nodded toward the entrance. "I had to get my bag off to get in and the clips are in the bag". Tim's eyes widened for a moment. He looked around quickly, grabbing a small wrench. "Not going to have much distance with this, but it will do".

Tim turned again to look around the corner. The banging seemed to have stopped, yet to his horror he watched as Wolvo forced his way through the gap, almost through. Tim didn't stick around to watch him enter. They moved quickly but silently though the metal maze. Low hanging girder s and dead machines seemed to want to engulf them. The labyrinthine walk ways were lit only though the dust filled rays of the sun, peeking through some windows on the ceiling. Bangs echoed through the wide space, reverberating off the metallic surfaces. It felt like the noise was coming from all around them. A bone chilling shriek would explode through the factory at random points, causing them both to jump out of their skin.

The two held each other's hands so tight their fingers threatened to pop out of their sockets. The noise around them seemed to swell, like it was closer, almost on top of them. Tears streamed down Ellsy's cheeks. Tim however weaved and slid through the walkways, keeping their heads down. Tim had led them back on themselves via a different route. He thought he was lost a few times but could see the entrance once again. "We have to make a run for the door. We get out and get as far away from here as we can". Another scream came from close by, an animalistic cry. They prepared themselves for the dart to the door. "GO". They sprinted with every fibre of their being for the doors. They made it and Tim held the gap open for Ellsy to squeeze through. She made it out in a few seconds.

Tim made the mistake of looking back into the gloom of the factory. He heard Wolvo before he saw him, instinctively jumping from his position. Wolvos bloody visage crashed into the door instead of Tim. He yelled in hatred and agony, his head whipping to face Tim. He was sprawled out on the ground, but still brandishing the wrench. His friend snarled and leaped towards him. Tim wasn't quick enough as he swung the wrench but only glanced the monsters shoulder. It wasn't the killing blow he needed. It bought him only a few seconds before Wolvo made a grab for him again.

Tim managed to kick himself away. Ellsy was trying to squeeze through the gap. "Fucking run Ellsy" Tim screamed. Wolvo screamed as if trying to mimic him. He leapt again at Tim, making it on top of him this time. Tim kept him at bay by holding onto his neck, directing his head away from him. This seemed to cause Wolvo to vomit an unholy amount of blood just a few inches from Tim's face, he felt hot spatters of it on his cheeks. He knew it was only a matter of time before some of it made into his system. With one last burst of energy he flung Wolvo off of him, but his infected grasp pulled Tim with him by his shirt. There were two deafening blasts, a shot of pure agony in Tim's gut, Wolvo lay lifeless, a dark pool of blood spreading from his skull and Ellsy sobbing in the dark.

More pounding was heard in amongst the pain and then, a blinding light. Like heaven's gate had been thrown open. Yet it was only the factory doors that unfastened and there stood several shapes. People thought Tim before he swiftly blacked out.


	4. Chapter 4: The Kingmaker

Living with Survival

Chapter 4: The Kingmaker

Tim heard a slow drip. At first as a singular sound in the darkness and then as a sense of consciousness. The drip was every 7-8 seconds. Tim realised he was counting the seconds in between. Like lifting two mountains, his eyelids raised open. At first he saw nothing. "Am I alive" he could barely whisper. Minutes went by, but felt closer to hours. Slowly his surroundings eased into view. He lay in a bed, an old wooden one. The dark room he lay in was made of stone, empty and hollow. A wax candle sat flickering in the dark in the centre of the room.

When an ounce of confidence graced him he attempted to sit up. A lightning bolt of pain shot through his stomach and licked his entire body. He thought for a moment even his toes and fingertips tingled with agony. He must have let out a scream, but hardly noticed. A sound of footsteps moving across stone floors grew louder beyond the wooden door of his room, or cell. The door swung open and out of the blur of his injury stepped a shape. "Tim" came her voice and within view stepped Ellsy.

She sat gently next to him and grasped his frail hand. "I'm so sorry Tim" She was holding back a world of hurt, of guilt. "W-w-what happen..." Tim began to cough, a storm cell of throbbing in his gut. "Shhh, Tim, don't move. You were shot. I shot you. I panicked and hit you. I'm so sorry Tim." She began to sob. Tim's frail hand rose to her soft cheek, the softest thing he had ever felt he thought. His finger wiped away a tear. "shhhh" he barely managed to muster the energy to speak. "Where a-are w-w-we?" Ellsy composed herself for a few seconds and began to explain. "We were found by some survivors. They helped us and rushed us back here. We're in a castle Tim, Warwick Castle. They've made a settlement within the walls. There are over a hundred people. They've been here since the beginning." Tim could barely process the information. He tried to sit up again but it was all too much. Blackness took him again, Ellsy's voice echoing in the distance as he lost all consciousness.

Tim could see Jons face, nothing else. He stared with unmoving eyes, like a statue with a flicker of life. "Jon?" As the name left his lips his brother face contorted into something evil. Blood began to discharge from his eyelids. His eyeballs turning crimson in an instant, his teeth bared and stained with gore. He lunged for him as Tim tried to get away, but he was glued to the spot, unable to struggle or escape the attack.

The awakening this time was sharp and sudden. Tim's eyes were wide and full of horror; the pain was dulled, but very much still there. The same room surrounded him, yet no Ellsy. "Awake again I see" came a voice in the shadows, the astute voice of a middle aged man. Tim turned his head to the far corner of the void of a room. A man leant against the wall, his shoulder length hair shun almost silver when he stepped into the candle light.

He was dressed in strange clothing, simple but almost medieval in nature, a leather tunic with an aged white undergarment. "You're very lucky you know, you survived the attack from your old friend, you survived a gunshot wound from your current friend, and you survived the trip here due to your new friend". "Who are you?" Tim could speak a lot easier now, had much time past he thought? "My name is Rich, but most people call me The Kingmaker around here, I'm the leader of our little rabble". Tim's head spun with the sheer madness of it all. Kingmakers and castles he thought? He must have died and went to some strange afterlife. "Can you walk? You're currently in the Northern tower, which means we are a few steps away from the castle walls. Perhaps some explaining would be a welcome remedy". Tim instantly forced every part of himself to sit up. The pain was bad, but the thought of being outside compelled him to his feet. A few moments of composure and Tim struggled towards the exit. The Kingmaker pushed the heavy wooden door open for him, and gently took Tim by the arm. There was a quiet strength to the man; he had the aura of a leader. Tim breathed heavily and walked out the door into the unknown world beyond.


	5. Chapter 5: The Walls Come Down

Living with Survival

Chapter 5: The Walls Come Down

The light of the day was blinding. Tim froze for a few seconds, feeling vulnerable holding onto a stranger. "Take your time" The Kingmaker whispered, his voice calming and sturdy. When his surroundings finally began to appear, Tim felt like he had fallen into the past. Walls of stone surrounding a plethora of activity, People bustled about around market stalls, sharpening weapons and other activities that wouldn't look out of place in the Middle Ages. Tim turned to look over the ramparts. The surrounding gardens were overgrown and the trees beyond it sat still like silent guardians. Beyond was the small town of Warwick, silent as the grave.

Tim was aghast, he'd seen some crazy shit over the past year, but this felt like the next phase of it all. The beginning of the restart button, The Kingmaker seemed to sense his confusion. "You must have many questions. So ill answer the most important, how?" The older man's lanky physique gave him ample space to peer over the walls. He stared out at the surrounding countryside, recalling life leading up to this.

"As you know, it started as rioting. But we all knew it was something else. I was the groundskeeper here. I got the job mainly due to my love of this places history, or rather its place in history. As the cities began to fall, people were rushing to airports and coasts, barricading themselves in supermarkets, renowned death traps with a thousand ways in and very few ways out. Whilst this was happening all over the country, a few of the staff began barricading and fortifying the castle. Some of the locals from the town got word and joined us. Some were brick layers and labourers, invaluable to us at that time, still are. The infection arrived and wiped out everything around us, yet we stood firm. Foraging and looting the surrounding areas for food and weapons. Eventually when it all died down and the Americans made contact from London, they advised staying put and waiting for them to come to us. That never happened. Now we hear over long range radios of Europe being wiped away."

"Seems you're all alone" Tim said as he stared down at some of the townsfolk. One man teaching another how to wield a halberd, a woman gutting a fish and adding it to a small pile beside her, several men dressed in ramshackle pieces of armour manned the gate house. This remained locked. "Not entirely alone" The Kingmaker sighed. "Who else is out there?" With this the man's hands clasped together as he leaned them over the battlements. "There is Onley Prison, about 20 miles north. Inmates managed to take over and fortify it. We only learned about them lately. Met one of them on a foraging mission, same kind of mission we were on when we heard gunshots coming from that factory where we found you".

Tim's head was swirling. People had not only just survived, they were setting up camp. Then he suddenly thought of his people, person. "Where's Ellsy?" Tim looked anxious. The Kingmaker said nothing, simply pointing at one of the distant towers. There stood a lonely figure staring out at the beyond the walls, her hair being played with by the gentle wind. "Can you make it over to her, or would you like help?" Tim shook his head, unable to take his eyes away from her. "Then we'll speak soon "The Kingmaker turned to leave and was almost through the door from which they'd came when Tim shouted "Thank you". The gracious man simply smiled, nodded and disappeared.

Tim limped around the fortifications towards her. A growing anxiety with every step, he could see it now. The distance he had let creep in between Ellsy and himself the past month or so. He had let his grief for Jon blind him to what he still had. What he still wanted. He had no idea what he wanted to say. He just wanted to grab her and never let go. As he came up beside her, she saw him from the corner of her eye. Only her head turned away from the view, and the most beautiful relieved smile filled her face, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Hello" Tim smiled back. Ellsy turned towards Tim, giving every bit of her attention to him. "How are you feeling?" Tim leant against the stone wall, trying to find a position that didn't leave him in pain. "Much better now" Tim smiled as he looked into her eyes. "I missed you" Tim's eyes began to well up with tears. "How could you have missed me, you've been Unconscious most of the time" Ellsy moved closer to him. "I fell into grief Ellsy. All this shit. It was hard to see the future surrounded by all that, even when my future was staring back at me". Their eyes didn't leave one another's, her hand reached out to his. Her softness and grace nearly sent him over the wall. He felt dizzy. Instead of falling over the ramparts he fell into her lips. They embraced for a while. They let everything up to this point fall away, just a good view and a great kiss.


End file.
